Don’t You Get No Ugly Tractor. Buy a Purdy Kubota.

That’s the headline on a billboard south of I-20 as we drove through Tuscaloosa. It was charming. Imagine the dealer offering that part of Alabama a play on words. “Purdy” had to be the name of the dealership! And at 70 mph, the headline was all we had time to see, along with the photo of a fine-looking orange tractor.

Sadly there’s no Purdy in Tuscaloosa. Not selling Kubota tractors. I fooled myself looking it up: there is a Purdy Tractor and it’s in Hillsdale, MI. Silly Richard. I thought (briefly) MI = Mississippi. Well NOT. This Purdy is in Michigan and offers New Holland Equipment.

I think the briefly seen “Purdy” outdoor must be from Tuscaloosa Tractor, a completely different dealer selling Kubota and Bush Hog products in that neck of the woods for more than 20 years. Too bad. I’d like to have [a] the pun be true and [b] gotten a photo of the billboard to show you. Not to be, though, not at that 70 mph driving speed.

There’s room for beauty and humor in equipment advertising…and therefore no ugly tractors. Anyone in that part of Alabama in a position to send me a picture of this ’board?

Message from Alabama: August 17, 2010

“Yes, it is our billboard sign,” sent Tuscaloosa Tractor Office Manager Robin Jarvis. “Purdy is how one of our salesmen says pretty. We thought it to be comical.”

Not too bad: I only got [a] the headline and [b] the photo slightly wrong. Thank you, Ms Jarvis.